woohoo, i finished my gladys socks! i was so thrilled to finally have them off the needles and on my feet, because i think they might be my prettiest pair yet. :) 

 aahh! happy feet! and picture overload!

let me tell you, this pattern is pure genious! i love how the main stitch pattern goes all the way down the heelflap and i also liked how the sock decreases were divided to give a nice, rounded toe. something to remember!

  i couldn't be happier with my choice of yarn, using a neutral, light-coloured yarn really shows off the stitches. (i used Regia 4-ply Uni in light grey)

 the on-my-feet pictures actually don't show how lovely the stitch patterns are, so here are some of my instagram snaps! 

next thing i'm up to... cables! :) 

wishing you all a lovely sunday night!

♥

the last pair of socks i finished were these Simple Trekking socks knit with (hah, surprise) Trekking XXL yarn. this yarn was lying in my stash for quite a while, and i thought it was about time i used it!

i chose the Simple Trekking socks pattern because i wanted something that was simple enough to show off the yarn, easy enough for some mindless knitting and interesting enough to not get really, really bored. ;)

 the pattern is quite straight-forward but features a broken rib detail on the toes and on the cuff. it also has a reinforced heel, which definitely feels quite durable and sturdy and is fun to knit also!

 i must say, i was happy and relieved to finish these, because i'm not too crazy about them! for a while i was thinking about starting again with a different pattern, but then i realised my biggest problem with these is mainly because of the yarn. the colours are quite masculine and not very cheerful.. i'm glad i pushed trough, because they fit great, they  really are super comfy! (hurray for ribbed socks)

so nevertheless, another warm and comfy pair was added to my sock drawer! 

♥

(my apologies for the not-so-great photos, but the weather wasn't that great when i took them... )

we just returned from lovely holidays in Normandy, France! although we didn't have the best weather, we did have a great time and came home well rested and very impressed by the nature and WOII history of the places we visited. 

 but vacation just wouldn't be vacation if it didn't involve a good amount of knitting. ;) i started a new pair of socks again couple of months ago, and took the second sock with me to finish. so now i have again a finished pair to add to my sock drawer!

 

  the colours went surprisingly well with my new green t-shirt...

 ... but also with the fishing nets in the harbour...

 ... or the nature at Omaha Beach!

  i also took a new project with me, because this pair was almost finished and i printed out a gorgeous pattern weeks ago... :)  so in the last couple of days of our holidays i started knitting on a pair of Gladys socks! something a bit more challenging and with a solid yarn for a change! don't you just love the chevrons?

there's a post about my finished pair of socks coming up real soon.. but first there is some post-holidays washing and ironing to do... :) how did you spend your vacation? was it good? do you also take your crafty projects along? do tell me in the comment section! :) 

♥

wow, life has been busy lately!! there are so much things going on, i never get around taking pictures of my wip's anymore... even commenting on your blogs is getting harder and harder these days. but anyway, those of you following me on instagram will have already noticed:  i've been a crafty busy bee lately! so here's a major update! with lots of pics too, to make up for the lack of updates. ;)

i finished my vanilla latte socks! did these turn out gorgeous or what?!

i love everything about them, the self striping yarn, the colours, the pattern, the fact that the stripes line up without even trying (!)...

(feet off the table!)

 

 

 i also learned some new techniques...
like the star toe...

... and the eye of partridge heelflap! (definitely a winner!)

i also knit some piggies for my mom, as goodbye-gifts for her co-workers.  

(she works as an accountant for a pig-breeding-company... sounds really weird but it explains the pigs ;)) she did most of the knitting and i put them together! we made ten of these and they turned out rather cute, she put a label around their neck with a little personal message, really nice. :)

 oink oink!  look at my little curly tail!

i also love how my mom got her knitting mojo back, right now she's knitting a new scarf for my dad with some of my stash yarn. comes in handy, when someone is stashbusting for you. ;)

what have you been up to? i'd love to know!!

♥

earlier this month, we went on a camping trip to France. (at Lac de Pannecière in Corancy. which is, to be precise, part of the Morvan Regional Natural Parc. so gorgeous!)
it's becoming a little tradition of mine to cast on a pair of socks before we leave on vacation. (socks are the perfect knitting project to take with you on vacation; small, portable and quick!)

so some days before we left, i cast on a pair of vanilla latte socks with fortissima mexiko yarn from my stash. it's been a while since i knit socks with selfstriping yarn, and i thought this yarn was perfect for the pattern.

also, my boyfriend likes to fish, so when we can, we go to a place where there's a lake. evenings are best for fishing so we spent many evenings at the lake, fishing/knitting until dark, drinking a beer and enjoying the view in the meantime.

 

we also went to visit a little town called Vézelay, mostly to go and see the abbey (which is pretty amazing), and in one of the tiny, uphill streets, we discovered this yarn shop from "la Ferme du Val Dampierre"... ♥

the shop was full of sweaters, gloves, afghans, gloves, hats, mittens,... all hand knit with yarn from their own farm! they also sold yarn, and i had the hardest time picking something to take home... i was in (yarn) heaven!! (i know that's breaking my not-buying-new-yarn rule. but i couldn't leave without buying something.)

(also in the shop: a cute little dog, shy at first but so sweet. not for sale though.)

i purchased two balls of alpaca yarn (sock weight). ooohhh these colours... this is without a doubt the prettiest, deepest burgundy colour i've ever seen! i paired it with a pretty teal colour. i love how they look together. this yarn is also ridiculously soft... i'm thinking about gloves...(combining the two with some colourwork, maybe?)

so... after a week of relaxing,  we're back to work and once again full of energy!

 don't you love vacation? how did you spend yours?

♥

remember my scrappy socks?

well... they're finally finished! 

and i LOVE them.

i call them my "hippie socks"!

 i made these with 13 different leftover yarns. i grabbed the yarn from a bag to make them look as "random" as possible... i did make sure all the different colours were divided equally!

  this is definitely my most colourful pair yet... and now i feel like knitting socks only until i have enough scraps for another pair! i'm in the "monstersocks"-group on ravelry and i have my eye on some great sock patterns already... (don't you love planning out new projects, even if it's just in your head and you know you can't actually start because you have a ton of other projects to finish first?)

today the weather is is feeling like spring and so am i!

i am longing for a good, thorough spring clean-up but i lack the time. however, i DID clean up our computer and discovered some photos of projects i hadn't yet blogged about, so i will be sharing these in the following posts!

first up is a pair of socks i finished in march 2013. the reason i didn't blog this pair is simple: i don't like them. there's nothing wrong with them, i just don't like the look of the yarn. they were knitted with Opal Sock yarn and it turns out, i am just not an Opal fan. ;)

(also: notice how the yarn pools a little bit on the right sock leg - for those who don't know what pooling means, let me share my knitters geek wisdom with you: pooling is when colours knit up in "blotches", creating "pools" of colour. this was my first "pooling experience" and EUGH, i do not like it.)

 

let's also share a (small) project that i do like: yesterday i made a crocheted bookmark for my moms birthday (for the record: we had a bigger gift too, i just like giving something hand-made even if it's tiny like this)

 i'm definitely making one for myself too, because this is way more stylish than a supermarket receipt, right? (and i have to admit, i love the tassel)

 (more details and a pattern link on ravelry)

my scrappy socks are coming along quite nicely! one is finished (except for weaving in all the ends, i'm not looking forward to that part...) and the other is about 1/3rd done. knitting stripes is really motivational for me, i can't wait to see what it will look like with the next stripe, and the next, and the next... :)

i also received my yarn for paulie, and made a swatch (my first swatch EVER) to check gauge. my gauge is a bit off (the swatch is a tiny bit too big), but i'm knitting size S which is a bit too small for me (but i'm definitely more a size S than a size M according to the size chart...) so i'm hoping this problem will solve itsself. as for the colours: i shamelessly copied the colours from the original design, but i'm using a lighter shade of gray and a bright, almost neon kind of yellow.

i already cast on and started knitting, but no pictures yet. :) i'm soooo excited though, and i'm having the hardest time putting it away!

lately, all i seem to be doing is knitting socks... casting on a new pair... ripping it out again... trying something else... and then ending up knitting just my regular sock pattern. :)

 

the socks i have on the needles now, are meant to be a pretty, mismatched pair of socks, using all my sock scraps! (i'm also really into working with scraps lately) and they are becoming soooo pretty! i'm just knitting stripes (5 rows) and grabbing a random colour from a bag, making sure not to look, because once i start thinking about all the possible colour combinations, the socks would never have that random, scrappy look.

last summer i also cast on this one, by a pattern called "Giles Wavy socks". while i really loved knitting the chevrons, i hated the result. blegh!! i think a pattern like this would come out so much better with yarn with softer colour changes.

 this one was the exact opposite; the Vanilla Latte socks. again, a lovely (more simple) pattern, but i felt like there wasn't enough "going on"...  :)

 so i decided to rip these out and store the yarn for a better purpose. meanwhile i'm really enjoying knitting my scrappy socks (stripes are sooo addictive) and waiting for my new yarn to arrive... because this autumn, i'll be knitting myself a Paulie! ♥

i finally finished and photographed my newest pairs of socks today! i made "duo socks", made to wear in pairs but they look so much better when mixed together! 

 

 

 

the blue pair traveled with me to switzerland (in march) and i took the yellow pair to croatia and germany in july. i love how my knitting projects travel with me and absorb memories.. :)

more details on ravelry: here and here. 

 PS: after more than 3 years, i got tired of my old blog layout...
sooooo... hello new logo and layout! what do you think? 

it's oh so quiet... it's oh so still... :) 

not that i've been sitting still, not at all. busy at work, busy at home and i have a to-do list that keeps growing! i did manage to finish a pair of socks and the hat for my dad, although i still have to photograph these new FO's... that's on the to-do-list as well.

i also started some new projects, like this hat for my boyfriend. it was almost finished, until he tried it on and it was waaay too big for his head. (which was weird because he tried it on before and it never seemed too big) so i had to rip this almost finished hat and start over. :( bummer... 

i also started a new pair of socks with some gorgeous Regia trend & classic tweed yarn. i'm knitting them in two colors to make it a little more interesting, and i love the color combination and all the little speckles in the yarn! the cuff, heel and toe will be yellow/ochre and all the rest light blue. :)

that's all for now! :) see you soon!